Dana Creel Becomes Director

In 1950, Dana S. Creel was appointed director of the RBF, and later became its first president (when the trustee role of president was reconfigured as chairman). Creel was the first professional staff hired by the Fund entirely to oversee its operations, distinct from the brothers’ individual giving or family office activities. An Army colleague of David Rockefeller’s during World War II, Creel had served previously as assistant to Arthur Packard, who was a longtime associate of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., the brothers, and the Fund, and directed the family office philanthropic activities. Creel’s career with the RBF spanned more than two decades. He presided over expansions of both staff and program in the late 1960s and early 1970s. After his 1975 retirement, Creel was named RBF trustee. He led what became known as the “Creel Committee” in the mid-1970s, which conducted a pivotal reassessment of financial support for the Fund’s longtime grantees.